Great Movie Idea: The Story of Ella Fitzgerald

Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald
Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald

I wish I lived in Hollywood. Hollywood CA, not FL…where I work…because there’s no one in the movie biz that does anything in Hollywood, FL. I’ve had a theater company, wrote a dozen plays, and have had a few really good ideas for flicks…but not a damned connection anywhere.

So here’s my beef: Hollywood has been churning out some really good flicks lately, but most of them are either re-hashes of old ideas (Avatar) or out-right remakes (Gone in 60 Seconds), plus a couple sequels made 20 years too late (Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull Thingy, Tron II). All good movies, but not really very original. Well, maybe the Crystal Skull movie. Maybe that one was a little too original.

Anyway, it seems that new ideas are at an all time low, except for those wonderful film makers who are lucky enough to get their indy films produced…and we all know 99% of the time, they (unfortunately) go no where. If only I had the ear of a big-shot movie producer (with some brains) for just a few minutes…

Ella Fitzgerald: Girl Singer

This wouldn’t be a documentary. This would be the story of how Ella first got hired by Chick Webb, back when she was just a kid. Web’s band was starting to lose popularity (his was the in-house orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in NYC), and he sent out word for a “pretty girl singer” to front the band. This was a fairly desperate plea, considering the kat was extremely ill, knew he didn’t have long to live, and didn’t want to buy the farm as a failed bandleader.

Ella, Girl Singer
Ella, Girl Singer

His manager, I think, found Ella singing in a talent show. Supposedly she had never sung in public before, and floored this guy. He brought her right over to Web, who proceeded to throw a fit (Ella was not the prettiest kid on the block…in fact, her looks were kind of…well, he didn’t dig her). But the other guy talked him into letting Ella audition, and Webb realized they had struck gold. And they did…in fact, Ella became the star that Webb never could on his own, and he died (at the young age of 30), from what I’ve read, pretty happy with his girl singer. Hell, the guy even adopted the 17 year old girl singer! Ella actually took over Web’s band, and had it for years before the turn of times forced her to go solo.

Benny Goodman, King of Swing
Benny Goodman, King of Swing

Along side this story you have the story of Benny Goodman, Chick Web’s nemesis. Goodman, being a well-to-do white guy, found it (relatively) easy to gain exposure and popularity compared to Webb…and get this…using the same charts by Fletcher Henderson that Webb used. Exactly the same. You could do that back then. Goodman favorites like Stompin’ at the Savoy, Don’t Be That Way and Blue Lou were first done by Webb’s orchestra, same arrangements, but with a somewhat different swing. That’s Jazz, baby. Anyway, Goodman’s band was the first that Billie Holiday recorded with (in 1933), produced by probably the major name of the big band era (that no one has ever heard of), John Hammond. You’ve got to remember what a big deal it was for a “white” band to play “black” music in 1933, let alone have a black woman record with them. Those records were banned in a lot of places in the South. And Goodman’s band refused to play anywhere that wouldn’t welcome his black sidemen, such as Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, and of course Holiday. Kats like Goodman did more to advance civil rights in the 30s than most people can imagine. Oh, and Peggy Lee was also singing with Goodman in the ’30s…a lot of people don’t know that, huh?

Chick Webb, King of the Savoy
Chick Webb, King of the Savoy

You see this movie taking shape? Paths cross…Ella, Goodman, Webb, Holiday, Hammond, Wilson, Glenn Miller, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw…and sidemen like Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, Gene Krupa and Roy Elridge, Charlie Parker and Ray Anthony who went on to define the styles of Jazz, laying the groundwork for swingin’ kats like Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie. Man, I’d pay for popcorn and a ticket to watch that flick! Wouldn’t you?

Lady Day
Lady Day

So if there are any big-shot movie producers out there who read Tiki Lounge Talk, please let me know if you dig the idea. We’ll draw up the standard ‘rich and famous’ contract.

-Tiki Chris P., reporting from the writer’s lounge

PS: I riff on the licorice stick, so I’ll be happy to play Benny Goodman. Call my agent. We’ll do lunch. And stuff.

15 Replies to “Great Movie Idea: The Story of Ella Fitzgerald

  1. There has been a documentary produced on the life of Ella Fitzgerald entitled “Just One of those things” and it has been shown on a very limited distribution. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can give an answer about more distribution or DVD publication. What a shame!

  2. Hell yes sign me up. I’m a novice director but I’d do anything to work on this project, Jazz is my passion. Please contact me as soon as possible.

  3. The world needs to be told the story of the greatest lady of jazz and swing, not to say the true Queen of song. God above I prey let someone see the incredible bucks this world beater would be. A Film telling the true story of Ella the Queen of song Fitzgerald.

  4. omg!!!… I found this page whilst searching to see if a movie about her has been made. I have to say that’s one role I’d DIE to play!. I love Ella and do a pretty good impression of her voice. If I auditioned I’d only let one other woman get it whom I think would most likely NAIL it!– Jill Scott! 🙂

  5. It would make a downright heart warming, tear jerking, smiling for the rest of the night as you walk out of the movie…movie…not to mention,………… we owe it to her. God Bless you Ella, thanks for the tunes!

  6. I think that the time is right and I think it would make a really good film. There are so many young people who have never heard of her, but so many older people that it would be a blockbuster. It’s got to be one of the greatest stories in the music industry. Her career was so long and her life both tragic and wonderful that it could make two films.

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